The Township of Esquimalt is one of the latest B.C. municipalities to gain provincial approval for its plastic bag ban.

The Checkout Bag Regulation Bylaw was given third reading by Esquimalt council in early 2020, but had been awaiting word from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. It is due to come back to council in March for final local approval.

Nanaimo, Surrey and Rossland also received the green light from the province to proceed with their own versions of the single-use plastic bylaw.

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The Esquimalt bylaw would prohibit businesses from selling or providing customers with plastic checkout bags, with certain instances excepted, and require businesses to charge for both paper and reusable checkout bags. It would also require paper checkout bags to contain at least 40 per cent post-consumer recycled paper, and to display the words “recyclable” and “made from 40 per cent post-consumer recycled content” or an alternative amount if greater, on the outside of the bag.

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